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How to Create an OC
Hello! Welcome to the Ever After High Fandom Wiki. We're glad to have you. If you're on this page because you want to make a character for the Ever After High universe, to post on our site, but aren't sure how to go about it then you're in the right place! Please read the following before getting started: *Original Character Guidelines Is this page not what you were looking for? These pages may be of more use: *Start Your Journey: How to use the wiki. *List of Resources: Resources to help you make characters and use the wiki. Deciding on a Fairy Tale The appeal of Ever After High is its use of fairytales. Deciding one to use for your character is an essential part of creating an Ever After High character. There are thousands upon thousands of fairytales - the world is your oyster! If you don't know where to start then consider the following: *Our List of Resources links to many sites containing many stories from around the world. *Wikipedia has a handy list of some popular (largely European) fairytales. *It also has a nursery rhyme (largely English Language) list. *SurLaLune has been considered a holy grail on our site since 2013. To keep content on our wiki aligned as closely with content from Mattel/Ever After High, please remember the following when picking a tale to use on our site: *Fairytales, fables, tall tales, nursery rhymes and certain legends are accepted. *Ballets are acceptable if they contain a fairytale element – such as talking animals, magic or royalty. *Characters sharing the same destiny as a canon character, if the story is not a separate variant, are not allowed. This only exception is when your character was made before the canon one. *Fairytale parents must come from original fairytale stories only. No adaptations, like Disney or Barbie. **For example, you can't post a character based off Mulan from Disney, but you can make an OC based off Mulan from the Ballad of Hua Mulan. *Mythology is not allowed, generally speaking. Please read our mythology guidelines. *Novels, literature, fantasy books, and childrens books are generally not allowed either. Please read our novel/literature guidelines. For a more detailed explanation, please check out the Original Character Guidelines. If ever you are confused about if a tale is accepted on site then please ask an admin! We would rather you were careful and we didn't have to take content down than the alternative. Thinking of a Name What's in a name? Everything! Which is why naming characters is such a tough job. Names in Ever After High tend to be a bit silly, for lack of a better word. They are often puns or incredibly literal. For inspiration, here are some ways Mattel has tackled naming characters. *'Literal names': e.g. Hunter Huntsman, son of the Hunter; Cerise Hood, daughter of Red Riding Hood; Cedar Wood, daughter of Pinocchio; Kitty Cheshire, daughter of the Cheshire Cat; Ramona Badwolf, daughter of the Big Bad Wolf. *'Names from the story': e.g. Apple White, daughter of Snow White; Raven Queen, ''daughter of the Evil ''Queen; Ashlynn Ella, daughter of Cinder''ella''; Lilly Bo Peep, daughter of Little Bo Peep. *'References': e.g. Just''ine ''Dance, daughter of the 12th Dancing Princess (references Just Dance); Lizzie Hearts, daughter of the Queen of Hearts (likely references Queen E''liz''abeth). *'Puns through sound': e.g. Alis''tair Wonderland, son of Alice (sounds like ''Alice); Humphrey Dumpty, son of Humpty Dumpty (sounds like Humpty), Mad''eline "Maddie" Hatter, daugher of the Mad Hatter (sounds like ''Mad); Chase Redford, son of the Red Queen (sounds like Chess). *'Puns through story/motif': e.g. Hopper Croak''ington, son of the Frog Prince (''Hop ''and ''croak reference his frog destiny); Briar Beauty, daughter of Sleeping Beauty (Briar references the briars in her destiny). *'Straight puns': e.g. C.A. Cupid, daughter of Eros (C.A. Cupid sounds like See a ''Cupid, something one should do if needing love advice). *'Fitting names': e.g. Raven Queen, daugher of the Evil Queen (''Raven is not directly related to the story or role, but does sound dark and mysterious, like her destiny is); Crystal Winter, daugher of the Snow Queen (both Crystal and Winter ''conjure up snow related imagery. Crystal also reminds the reader of gemstones, which might remind someone of her oppulent future as a queen). Names are usually a combination of the above. Briar Beauty is a literal name (Sleeping Beauty), a name from the story (in one of many versions of the story, the princess is called Briar), and a pun through her story (as Sleeping Beauty often features briars). You can go as abstract or as straight with your naming as you'd like, there are no rules! Some people like to give their Ever After High characters names that reflect their nationality; some like to stick as closely to Ever After High naming conventions as possible. You can give your character a name found in real life or a name thats completely made up, neither choice is wrong. As long as you feel it suits your character and their story/role/destiny, you're good to go. Outlining Your Character Think of the basics for your character. Ever After High makes this easy; using the doll box profiles we can see what information Mattel thinks is necessary when creating a character for their show. *'Story': The story your character is destined to take part in. *'Role': The role your character is destined to have within that story. *'Alignment': Are they a royal or a rebel? Roybel perhaps? Or maybe they walk the neutral path? *'Powerful Qualities': Three positive traits that make your character unique and interesting. *'Roommate': Who your character shares a room with. *'Secret Heart's Desire': Your character's motivation / want. *'My "Magic" Touch': A stand out thing about your character that makes them unique. May be actual magic, may not be. *'Storybook Romance Status': Your characters relationship status / feelings on relationships. *'Oh "Curses!" Moment': A flaw your character possesses. *'Favourite Subject': Your character's favourite subject. *'Least Favourite Subject': Your character's least favourite subject. *'Best Friends Forever After': Your character's friends. Other essential points to consider when creating a character in general: *'Name': Your character's name. *'Age': Your character's age. *'Gender and pronouns': Your character's gender and pronouns. *'Sexuality': Your character's sexuality. *'Location': Where your character is from. *'History': What has happened to your character up until now. Developing Your Character Basics An original character is nothing without just that: some original character. We aren't here to police the level to which you develop your characters; you can make your characters as simple or as complex as you like. However, if realistic is your goal then it is worth remembering the following: *'Flaws are your friend'. Most of us want our characters to be relatable and likeable, even if they aren't good people. Creating flaws is a great way to remind your reader that your character is not perfect and could be a real person - we are all a mix of good and bad traits, after all. *'Look to the past''. What happens in the past defines who we are now. Explaining your characters wants, needs, likes, hates, and motivation through things that have happened in the past never goes amiss. If you're stuck, the wiki has its very own Despellopment Challenge to help get your creative juices flowing. Ever After High Specific Development Using the outline from Mattel/Ever After High we can come up with some simple but effective questions to help you get a better understanding of your character. *'Story '''and '''Role: **How does your character feel about their destiny? Do they like their story? Would they change anything if they could? How do they feel about their specific role? Do they hate their story but love their role? Perhaps they love their story but hate their part in it? Maybe they think both are just as bad as the other; maybe they think both are awesome. **How have their parent(s) impacted the way they feel about these things? If so, how? *'Alignment': **Potentially based on the above, is your character a royal or a rebel? Why? **Are they honest about how they feel? Do they feel pressured to align a certain way? **Is their alignment is based out of sympathy for others, or out of a sense of duty or justice? Do they care at all? Perhaps they lack sympathy for others? Your character may not feel informed enough to make a choice or may want to throw their cents into the debate without knowing what they're talking about. **Does alignment matter to them? Would they refuse to befriend someone who felt differently to them? **Have their parent(s) impacted the way they feel about these things? If so, how? *'Secret Heart's Desire': **What does your character want? What motivates them? Why do they want that, and why does that motivate them? Will they fight at any cost for their wants, or do they think that their wants come second to serving destiny? **Do they aspire to do something huge, like save the world? Or do they just want to make it to lunch break without getting picked on? *'Oh "Curses!" Moment '''and' Powerful Qualities': **What are some positive traits your character posesses? Contrast them with some negative ones; what negative traits do they possess? Are these traits linked? What things about their personality does your character like? What things would they change about their personality? What makes them unique and what makes them similar to others? Uploading a Character To upload your character to the wiki follow these steps: *'Step 1': Look to the top right of the site, beside the page number total, and click the page icon to make a new page. *'Step 2': Write your page title (in this case, your character's name) and click the next button. *'Step 3': If you wish to use the wiki's character page template, go to the template Character Page and copy and paste the information in grey. *'Step 4': Paste the information from Character Page into the source editor of your character's own page. To find this, click the drop down arrow beside the edit button and select ''Classic Editor from the options. *'Step 4.5': Once in classic editor, click the tab that says 'Source'. Paste the information from Character Page here. *'Step 5': Change the information to be about your character. *'Step 6': Before publishing via the publish button, scroll down to add categories to your page. Read Start Your Journey/Categories for more information about what categories your page needs. *'Step 7': Hit publish! You're done. Remember We were all new once and we are all still learning how to make characters, day by day. People on the wiki, admins, mods, and users alike, are all here to help you, if that's what you want! Furthermore, the most important thing to remember when using a site like this is that comparison is your enemy. Your characters are uniquely yours and there is beauty in that. Please do not put yourself down for content other people create. No one else could have come up with your idea and that's what makes your character amazing. Category:Official Guides Category:Tutorials